quarrel vs altercation

quarrel and altercation both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
quarrel	Yes	No	Yes	No
altercation	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, altercation is a hyponym of quarrel; that is, altercation is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than quarrel:

Other hyponyms of quarrel include affray, fracas, bicker, bickering, fuss, pettifoggery, spat, squabble, tiff, bust-up.

quarrel (noun)	altercation (noun)
an arrow that is shot from a crossbow; has a head with four edges	noisy quarrel
an angry dispute

quarrel (verb)	altercation (verb)
have a disagreement over something